The use of herbal medicine is increasing worldwide but little is known of the reasons that individuals take them. This study explores those reasons with a sample from Germany. The study also highlights the importance of ensuring that herbal medicines are discussed with medical experts before being taken.

Aims and scope

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles on interventions and resources that complement or replace conventional therapies, with a specific emphasis on research that explores the biological mechanisms of action, as well as their efficacy, safety, costs, patterns of use and/or implementation.

I am currently a professor at College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University. I hold a Ph.D. in Biopsychology (Behavioral Neuroscience) from University of Illinois at Chicago and completed my post-doctoral fellowship at the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine University of Illinois. I am a member of the Society for Neuroscience and have served as an organizing committee of many International conferences and served as the Editor-in-Chief of Korean Society of Stress Medicine and Executive Editor of Experimental Neurobiology.

My research expertise is in the areas of neural mechanisms responsible for motivational behaviors including stress, drugs of abuse, and learning and memory. It is the goal of my research in particular, to elucidate both the effects and the mechanisms of action of the herbal medicine or complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) using animal models of stress-related diseases such as anxiety, depression, insomnia or learning and memory. I have joined a board member since Aug, 2016.